September 10, 2008

Cats Hold Grudges

On a day when it was raining cats and dogs outside, one of my colleagues was attempting to convince another that there is a famous phrase - "Cats hold grudges". The other colleague started making cat calls, refusing to believe that this was an authentic figure of speech. The cat and mouse game continued for a while, as they argued back and forth. As is often the case, they came to me to settle the matter. They were as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs as they awaited my reply. I grinned like a Cheshire cat, although I was unsure of the answer. The cat had got my tongue, and I could not provide a solid conclusion either way. The phrase did seem familiar but I did not remember a specific situation where I had heard it being used.

Even though curiosity killed the cat, we decided to further investigate the validity of this statement. Like a cat on a hot tin roof, we quickly researched the usage and popularity of this saying on the Internet. Using my catlike reflexes I opened up a web browser and typed in my search query. Taking a look at what the cat had dragged in, we discovered that the results were quite limited. Only a handful of articles discussing whether cats hold grudges were available online, and all were quite literal in their interpretations. As no consensus existed on whether cats hold grudges, it was not being used as a figure of speech by the common man. Now that the cat was out of the bag, the case was closed.

*****

"Cat's motto: No matter what you've done wrong, always try to make it look like the dog did it." - Unknown